Seeing purple?You can also smell, eat, pick and learn to grow purple starting Friday at Sequim Lavender Weekend.Farm tours, festivals and everything lavender celebrate the Olympic Peninsula region's purplehood on July 19, 20 and 21. Events hosted by Sequim Lavender Farm Faire and Sequim Lavender Festival make for a three-day wave of purple haze.There's plenty of the lavender to go around. Sequim and the surrounding Dungeness Valley is a lush paradise where the plant grows like crazy.You'll see why it's been called "Lavender Capital of the U.S."Bring the kids and the dog. Pets are not allowed on farm tours, but pet sitting will available at Carrie Blake Park.Lavender is the star of the show, but other attractions include a quilt show, arts studio tour, jazz and open-air market.Free city shuttles go to all the lavender events in town with stops downtown and at designated parking lots.Not every flower gets a color in its honor.Lavender lives up to the honor in many ways. It is used for cooking, cleaning, bathing, burning and decorating.Historically, it was used to repel insects, treat wounds and incite passion, as well as in burial rites and as offering to gods. Queens freshened up their castles with lavender and drank it in their tea.Now you can do all of the above too.There are a total of 13 lavender farms to visit on two separate self-guided tours.Sequim Lavender Farmers Association spokeswoman Deborah Anastasi Black said one new farm is Victor's Lavender owned by Victor Gonzales.She said lavender changed Gonzales' life and, through lavender, he is changing the lives of others.Gonzales didn't know anything about lavender when he came to Sequim from Mexico in 1997 in search of a better life. He now grows oodles of lavender varieties."His skills are being sought internationally," Black said. "He's been working with farmers in developing countries, helping them get their lavender industry up and thriving."Black said the six farms on the Heritage Lavender Farm tour, which has an admission fee, are larger."At each farm there's a festival unto itself. There are workshops, demonstrations and culinary lavender," she said.The seven places on the free Sequim Lavender Festival Farm Tour also are a lollapalooza of lavender.Andrea Brown; 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.comLavender festivalsA street fair takes place in downtown Sequim on Fir Street between Sequim and Third avenues.The fair, with about 150 lavender booths, food, wine and music, is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20; and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, July 21.Admission is free and there is free parking throughout downtown.Lavender Arts & Crafts Faire in the Park, about a mile from downtown at Carrie Blake Park / James Center. The fair, with booths, food, art, hot air balloons, antique tractors and pet sitting, runs from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20; and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, July 21.Opening ceremonies are at 11:15 a.m. Friday, with featured guest Ciscoe Morris. Admission is free.For information about the events, visit www.visitsunnysequim.com.Lavender farm toursSequim Lavender Festival Farm Tour: The free tour of seven farms is self-guided: Blackberry Forest, Martha Lane Lavender, Oliver's Lavender Farm, Nelson's Duck Pond & Lavender Farm, Peninsula Nurseries, The Lavender Connection and Graysmarsh Farm. The farms are open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. July 19 to 21.For more information, visit www.lavenderfestival.com.The Heritage Lavender Farm Tour: Self-guided tour of six farms: Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm, Lost Mountain Lavender Farm, Olympic Lavender Farm, Purple Haze Lavender Farm, Victor's Lavender Farm and Washington Lavender. The farms are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 19 to 21.An advance three-day pass for adults is $10 online and $15 on tour days. A one-day pass is $12. Children 12 and under are free.For more information, visit www.sequimlavender.org.

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